Easy Money When Lives No Longer Count

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Antoine Taveneaux, Wikimedia commons

Toronto's proposed casino: the pros and cons
May 10, 2012
EDMUND KWAW

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. announced early this year that it wanted to build a casino in the Toronto area.

Though no site has been chosen, international casino operators have indicated that a waterfront location would be preferred should the project go ahead. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan has also expressed his excitement at the possibility of a Toronto waterfront “golden mile” style gambling complex that would bring much needed dollars into the province’s coffers.

The announcement has stoked the fires on both sides of the gambling debate. Almost everyone, from construction industry lobbyists to home owners in the Greater Toronto area has an opinion about the proposed project and some have been very vocal about their views on the subject.

Toronto city councilors have started choosing sides and the council is divided on the issue, with many Councilors representing downtown wards indicating their opposition to the proposed project. For instance, Michael Layton, who represents the ward that includes a significant part of the Toronto downtown waterfront area, signaled that he was opposed to the project. According to the councilor, “a casino is not an economic development mechanism; it is a mechanism for taking money.”

There is no doubt that casinos make money. For example, it is estimated that within a few weeks of its opening, the casinos in Detroit proved to be very lucrative; with the MGM Grand Detroit bringing in more than US$ 1million a day.

However, Toronto Councilor Michael Layton’s opinion is not without good reason and represents the core argument of Toronto opponents to the proposed casino project. Their primary argument is that while the establishment of casinos is an easy way for governments to generate money, the human costs, as well as the costs respecting the development of inner city neighborhoods, are high. The opponents argue that gambling complexes like casinos lead to gambling addiction which in turn leads to other social problems, including an upsurge in crime and suicide rates.

To be fair to the opponents to the Toronto casino project, their argument is supported by a number of research findings in the United States, including research undertaken by the National Gambling Impact Commission and the National Research Council.

They point to the suicide of Solomon Bell, a police officer from Detroit, as an example of what could happen in Toronto. Bell committed suicide on January 26, 2000 after he lost thousands of dollars at the newly opened MotorCity Casino in Detroit. According to eyewitnesses, Bell gambled first at the MGM Grand Detroit Casino where he lost approximately US$15,000 and from there went to the newly opened MotorCity Casino where he lost $3,500 at the blackjack table, at $500 a hand. After this second loss Bell pulled out his service revolver and shot himself in the head.

The fears of the opponents to the Toronto casino project are thus certainly not unwarranted. Perhaps the only way to resolve the issue, after the OLG has provided all the studies and information, is for the good citizens of City of Toronto themselves, and not its councilors, to decide.